


Exploding Ink

by peaceandtranquility



Category: Splatoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:07:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29350209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peaceandtranquility/pseuds/peaceandtranquility
Summary: Marie is awoken from her peaceful slumber by an explosion that rocks the entire apartment. Not too long after, Callie bursts into the room. Callie has just blown up their waffle iron with her ink alone. Marie decides to find out for herself just how Callie's new power works...
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Exploding Ink

_Boom!_

The sound rocked the entire apartment, sending books flying off their shelves, clothes off their racks, and Marie off her bed. She groaned and got up, using her bed as support. She glared at the clock sat innocently on her nightstand, realizing with irritation that it was barely seven in the morning. Her alarm wouldn’t go off for another four hours. With a sigh, she slipped back under her blanket, resting her head on the soft green pillow. Maybe she could get back to sleep…

“Marie! Marie!”

Or not. Marie forced her eyes open as Callie burst into the room. Her cousin was a proper mess sometimes, with her disheveled tentacles and frumpled clothes. And, was that ink dripping from Callie’s hands? “Ugh, what is it Callie?” Marie grumbled, pushing herself upright to at least converse with her cousin properly. “Did you blow up the oven again? Just call someone to repair it.”

“No, I didn’t!” Callie shouted indignantly. “That was one time, Marie. One time!”

“Then, what is it?” Marie was starting to wake up and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be awake for whatever Callie did to make that sound. She fumbled blindly for her phone, turning off the alarm since it didn’t seem like she’d be able to go back to sleep. “Did you blow up the toilet?”

“No!”

“Refrigerator?”

“No!”

“…dishwasher?”

“No! Wait. We don’t have a dishwasher!”

“Right, right.” Marie chuckled. It was so easy to get a rise out of Callie. Not to mention how cute she looked when she pouted. “Okay, then what did you do?”

“I was in the kitchen making pancakes-“

“Didn’t we agree that we were having waffles today?” Marie said. “I distinctly remember today’s breakfast is supposed to be waffles.”

“The waffle iron…blew up…” Callie said sheepishly.

“How the- Never mind.” Of course Callie would find a way to blow up the waffle iron. Whether she did on purpose was the real question, though Marie was had no energy to interrogate Callie on her waffle iron explosion reasons at the moment. “Continue, Cal.”

“Okay, so I was in the kitchen making the batter and I went to turn on the waffle iron – which wasn’t broken. Yet.” Again, Callie smiled weakly. “I don’t know how, but some of my ink ended up on the iron and I just thought, ‘wouldn’t it be funny if it exploded from my ink?’ because, you know, splat bombs and all?”

“Just get to the point, Cal.” Marie groaned. She was pretty sure Callie was dripping ink from her hands now. The pinkish purple drops formed a small puddle on the otherwise clean floor. Marie was a little puzzled by this, since most Inklings didn’t… _leak_ ink. And Callie definitely didn’t, otherwise they’d have encountered this problem long ago.

“And then the iron exploded, just after I thought it.” Callie scratched her cheek nervously, leaving thin lines of pink ink on her face. “So, no waffles today…haha…”

“Callie, are you listening to yourself right now?” Marie said. “Exploding ink because you thought about it? That’s crazy talk.” Because Marie didn’t want to entertain the thought that Callie was telling the truth. Ink didn’t explode on its own. Ink packed into bombs exploded. The idea that Callie could detonate the ink with her thoughts alone…

“I figured you’d say that…” Now it was Callie’s turn to sigh. “I really, really hope it was just a coincidence. I don’t want anything else to change about me after…” Callie paused, biting her lip. “Yeah, it was just a coincidence! It has to be! I’ll clean up the mess and let you know when breakfast is ready, okay?”

Just as quickly as she had come, Callie left. Marie could hear her cousin rushing down the hall to the kitchen, followed by the sound of metal scraping against the stone countertop. The puddle of ink stayed where it was, innocent enough in appearance. Marie stepped carefully over it on her way to freshen up. All thoughts of heading back to bed were long gone.

* * *

“Um, Marie?”

“Yeah, Cal?”

“Why are we at Sheldon’s testing range? Weaponless?”

“I have a weapon.” Marie shouldered the Hero Charger replica she’d ‘borrowed’ from Agent 4. Agent 4 wouldn’t miss it anyway; the silly squid didn’t understand how to properly utilize the charger in turf war.

“Yes, but I don’t?” Callie showed Marie her empty hands. A thin layer of pink ink lined the palms of her hands.

“I know.” Marie said, patting her cousin reassuringly. “I’m just testing something.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Go and give one of those training dummies a hi-five, why don’t you?” Marie said as she put down her charger. She had no plans on using it for practice. It had served its purpose already, which was to get Sheldon to let them in without piquing his interest. Better than both of them showing up weaponless to test something.

“O-Okay!” Callie looked confused but did as Marie asked, leaving a pink handprint on the green training dummy.

“Now, focus on the handprint with your mind.” Marie really hoped she was wrong. Maybe she shouldn’t even be testing this. But, if she was right, then she needed to protect Callie even more than before.

“Right, okay. Handprint.” Callie stared at the ink.

“Cal, what do you call this?” Marie held up a splat bomb. She hadn’t triggered it, so it wouldn’t detonate on them.

Callie glanced over. “A…bomb?”

_Pow!_

The dummy exploded, sending scraps of plastic into the air and Callie into Marie’s arms. Marie shivered, watching the scraps slowly flutter down onto the scorched ground. The dummy wasn’t popping back up.

“I’m sorry!” Callie cried, burying her face into Marie’s shoulder. Her hands held tightly to the back of Marie’s jacket. “I didn’t mean to destroy it!”

“It’s okay, Callie. It’s my fault. I made you do it.” Marie tossed the (inactive) splat bomb over her shoulder. She slowly and gently removed her cousin’s grip on her clothes. “Could you tell me what you were thinking just before it happened?”

“I…I was focusing on the mark I made, like you asked, and when I saw the bomb I thought about the ink exploding on the dummy like I did with the waffle iron and-“ Callie paused, then reached for Marie’s jacket again. “Marie, you have to take it off right now!”

“What? Why?” Marie asked, bemused. She had been making mental notes of everything they’ve learned so far about Callie’s strange new ability.

“I got ink on it and-“

“Callie.” Marie, always the quicker of the two to pick up on things, already figured out what Callie was going to say. She just needed to head the train of thought off in a different direction before it reached the wrong station.

“-if I really can do that-“

Marie sighed. Seems like there was no stopping the train. She tore the jacket off as fast as she could.

“-then the jacket might-“

Marie wadded up the green jacket and threw it into the sky.

“-explode!”

Marie shielded her eyes as the jacket detonated midair. “That was my favorite incognito jacket too.” She stepped over to the remains of the jacket and kicked at it, watching parts of the cloth burn away into ashes.

“Sorry, Marie…” Callie mumbled.

“It’s not something you have to apologize for, Cal.” Marie said, walking over to her cousin. “I don’t mind losing a jacket or two if it means I can understand your new power. So, cheer up, okay? We’ll figure something out.” She reached out to pat Callie, to reassure her.

Callie backed away. “I don’t wanna hurt you. This power…” She looked at her hands, dripping ink onto the ground.

“Callie.” Marie closed the distance, taking Callie’s hands in her own before Callie could retreat again. “You won’t hurt me.”

“You don’t know that, Marie!” Callie shouted. “Let go before I-“

“Before you what? Explode?” Marie smiled. She refused to let Callie see how much the explosions affected her. The last thing she wanted to do was send Callie away.

Callie squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the worst.

Nothing happened.

“See?” Marie said, “I’m fine. Open your eyes, Cal.” She kept holding onto Callie’s hands as her cousin blinked at her.

“No explosion?” Callie asked.

“No explosion.” Marie confirmed. She let go of Callie and shook her hands, getting most of the ink off. “Well, I’d call that a successful test.” Aside from the near-breakdown Callie went through, anyway. She picked up her mangled mess of a jacket and the ‘borrowed’ Hero Charger replica. “Let’s go pay Sheldon for the damage and get you some more gloves.”

“Why gloves?”

“That way you won’t leave ink on everything you touch. Should give you some peace of mind, right?” Marie said. For the sake of their budget, it would be best that Callie’s list of destroyed items ended with the jacket. “Oh, and don’t tell anyone else about the ink.” Who knows what people might do if they found out about Callie’s explosive power. The information could end up in the wrong hands and Callie could be kidnapped. Again. And exploited. Again. The thought scared Marie more than when she was facing Callie’s explosion head-on.

“Okay.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been entertaining the idea of Callie having ink that explodes when she wants it to. (Along with Marie getting a unique form of ink, but that's for another story.)  
> Might add more chapters, since I have a few ideas for how the Squid Sisters deal with this new ability of Callie's.


End file.
